Memories
by Morals
Summary: Finn dies unexpectedly. The Glee club gathers in the choir room after his funeral to share their favourite memories and mourn their friend. Rest In Peace Cory Monteith.


Will approached the choir room slowly, listening for their voices. Normally the chatter and laughter of a room full of restless teenagers would greet him, welcoming him to another glee club meeting. Today it was quiet, just a few soft whispers.

He lent against the doorframe and watched them. Their usual array of eclectic outfits had been replaced by sombre shades of black and grey. The choir room itself seemed weirdly vibrant in comparison. They were spread out across the room, all heavy faces and red eyes. Their usual camaraderie was gone, like, in loosing their leader, they had lost their unity as well.

Will sighed; ten years he had been working at this school and he had never seen a group of kids as close as the glee club were. For most of them, this was their first experience with death. Loosing one of their own would leave a lot of broken hearts and a long road of healing. As for himself; Finn had been so much more than a student to him. To the glee club, he was the glue that had kept them all together. To Will, he was a friend and confidant.

Watching them all together now, his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to Rachel. She sat alone behind the choir room drum kit, her hands gripping the stool beneath her so hard her knuckles were white. Her eyes were shut and he could still see the tear tracks running down her face from a long day of heartache. Even as he watched, she seemed to be struggling to hold them in. There was no doubt in Will's mind that, of all the glee club members, Rachel's road back to normalcy would be the longest.

He walked slowly over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. She startled, looking up at him. Her puffy wet eyes were so heartbroken it was like a slap to his face when they met his. She stood up and embraced him, crying silently into his shoulder. Will just held her, knowing there was absolutely nothing he could say that would make this bearable. He hugged her tighter as he struggled to hold back his own tears.

Eventually Rachel pulled away, offering him a small wet smile of thanks that barely reached her lips let alone her eyes. Will turned to the rest of the room and saw 18 miserable faces turned expectantly towards him. There was a small moment of panic at their looks of anticipation. They were looking to their teacher for guidance, needing him to say something that would somehow make this feel better. How was he meant to guide them through this when he was grieving himself?

But the moment of panic passed. If his only job in all of this was to get these kids through it as unscathed as possible, then he would do his absolute best to do that. He took a deep breath to steady himself and swallowed down the lump in his throat.

"Alright guys, lets take a seat."

He moved out from behind the drum kit and went to sit in one of the choir room chairs before changing his mind and taking a seat on the choir room floor instead. The students slowly joined him, taking their spots in a large circle. Instantly, they seemed more cohesive; hands were reached out to take those next to them, arms were wrapped comfortingly around each other, and heads were rested on shoulders.

It was Tina who broke the silence first, "What do we do now Mr Shue? How do we keep Glee club going without Finn?"

Her voice was small and fragile, empty of all her usual sass.

"I don't even like being in this room," whispered Sugar, "It's too sad."

There were a few silent nods from the group.

"Look guys, I wish I had all the answers for you, but I don't. No one does" Will said sadly, "There is no right way to do this and, unfortunately, it's not likely to get easier. Over the next few weeks, you're all going to have good days and bad days. My advice is to look around at the people in this room and remember how much you all love each other, and how important Finn was to all of you. These are the people that are going to get you through this."

He paused, waiting to see if anyone wanted to say anything. Kurt reached over the take Blaine's hand tentatively in his own, squeezing it gently. Everyone else sat quietly.

"We all loved Finn," Will continued, "And I think we should use this time to celebrate his life, to remember all the love and light he bought to every one of us," He cleared his throat, "So, who wants to go first?"

There was a long pause while everyone looked slightly uncomfortable and avoided meeting his eyes. Then Marley whispered, "I will."

"Great Marley," Will said encouragingly, "Go ahead."

Marley looked momentarily self-conscious but she took a deep breath and ploughed forward.

"I didn't know Finn for very long," she said softly, "But after sectionals, when I had ruined everything with that horrible Gangnam Style performance, Finn was the only one who never made me feel guilty about it. And when everyone was leaving Glee to join other clubs, he was the one that got us all back together. That's my best memory of Finn. He was a great leader, and he would have been a great teacher," she finished off rather quickly, like she wasn't really sure it was her place to say that.

"That's great Marley," Will reassured her before turning to the rest of the group, "Anyone else?"

Another pause.

"When the Warblers were trying to get me to transfer back to Dalton, Finn was the first person to realise and try to stop me leaving," Blaine said, "He said we needed a team with a lot of gel."

There were a few quiet snickers at that.

"What was that thing he said at a night of neglect- the show's gotta go all over the place?" said Artie, grinning.

Mercedes, Kurt and Tina laughed. Even Rachel gave a small smile.

"He called me his moose," she said quietly, almost holding it together before her face crumpled and Kurt pulled her gently into his side to cry on his shoulder.

They were all silent again for a few heavy moments before Unique spoke up.

"When Finn gave me the part of Rizzo in Grease, that was the first time I felt like Unique was being accepted as a person, not just a performer," she said, her voice full of emotion, "He gave me a place in the world."

"Finn gave me a place in this choir room," said Sam, his voice rough, "I wouldn't have joined if it weren't for him."

"Me either," whispered Quinn, as Puck nodded.

"Finn was always good at bringing us together as a team," Will agreed, "His leadership was one of his greatest qualities. It was why I recruited him to Glee in the first place… What about other qualities? What else was he good at?"

"Dancing," declared Brittany. Everyone laughed.

"I think its safe to say that dancing wasn't Finns forte," said Will, chuckling.

"He stood up for his family," said Kurt, "He once rescued me from Karovsky while dressed as Lady Gaga in a red shower curtain," He smiled at the memory, "And he sang me a Bruno Mars love song at our parents wedding."

Everyone smiled as Blaine nudged Kurt fondly with his shoulder.

"What about you girls?" Will prompted, "Santana? Brittany? Any memories to share?"

Santana looked a little uncomfortable, but she spoke up anyway.

"When he sang Girls Just Wanna Have Fun for me, that was…" she gave an awkward shrug, "I guess he made me feel like maybe I didn't have to be so angry all the time."

Will nodded as Brittany squeezed Santana's hand and they smiled at each other.

"Guys, these are the things I want you to remember when you're feeling sad," Will said, "Think about all the great memories you have of Finn. All the incredible things he did for each of you and this club. That's how people live on after they pass."

Will cleared his throat, trying once more to swallow down that lump.

"And look out for one another. You're going to need your friends and loved ones now more than ever."

He took a deep breath and then turned to Rachel.

"What about you Rachel?" He asked gently, "Is there anything you want to share?"

Rachel met his eyes briefly. She looked like the idea of having to condense what Finn meant to her into a few sentences was too daunting to contemplate. But running scared wasn't in Rachel's nature; she threw herself in for better or worse.

"Finn…" Her voice broke.

She stopped, shook her head a little as she collected herself and then tried again, "Finn was everything to me and he made me feel like I was everything to him too. I always believed that in the end, we were going to be together. I think we both believed that." She paused and took a deep breath, looking up to meet their concerned eyes, "Last year Finn asked me to surrender and let the universe take control… So that's what I'm going to do, and hopefully he's up there watching out for me."

Everyone was quiet when Rachel finished, until Kurt stood up, pulling Rachel up with him, and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. They stood there quietly for a moment until Quinn stood up and joined them; with tears rolling down her face she embraced both Kurt and Rachel. Then Artie rolled over and joined them. Then Tina and Mike and Mercedes, until soon they were all holding each other, half laughing, half crying. The group hug descended into a pack of teenagers giggling on the floor when Puck tried to leap into the centre of the hug from the outside and the group collapsed beneath him.

Will stood to the side watching as they all caught their breath while playfully hitting Puck over the side of the head in reproach. The laughter was short and faded quickly as they each remembered why they were here, but it was enough for Will to know that everything would be alright eventually. They would mourn their friend, but then they would pick themselves up and start to smile again, which is entirely what Finn would have wanted.

Rest in peace.


End file.
